Happy National Doughnut Day 2013!

Yay it’s Doughnut Day!

Every first Friday of June is a great odd holiday of National Doughnut Day. We’ve been celebrating this holiday for years. I think it was my husband who brought it up first when we first started dating. Since then, I always keep it in my mind to remember the day and to make some doughnuts. These round bread-y pastries  have always been popular, but in recent years it seems like it’s popularity has skyrocketed. There are even pretzel doughnuts, muffin doughnuts, and I still have to try those “cronuts!” Or maybe if you want to try a new type of doughnut, try some of the pao de quiejo donuts that I made a few weekends ago. With donut maker electric appliances and doughnut baking pans, no wonder these have become more popular, especially homemade. This year I tried a baked version from Official Hungry’s “Eat My Vegan” recipe. I have been eye-ing this for some time and adapted it to a gluten-free recipe.

The results–very yummy! I made 4 types:  regular chocolate glazed (using my stout chocolate sauce), crushed banana chips with chocolate glaze, an impromptu white chocolate glaze with chopped apricots, and cinnamon sugar using coconut sugar. I love the crunch of the coconut sugar as a topping. For the white chocolate glaze, I just eyeballed some white chocolate chips and poured in a bit of hot coffee (enough for a glazy consistency) and stirred it well. I like the hint of mocha-y flavor which sounds weird with fruit, but it was really good. I like using dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate instead of sprinkles, but feel free to use them–they are so fun to use with all of the colors to choose from!

I also used my mini-donut pan. Two of these 2-bite wonders are enough for me. For the doughnut base I used Trader Joe’s gluten-free all-purpose flour and it made delicious doughnuts. Next time, however, I am going to blitz the flour in the food processor to make the flour into a superfine consistency, which should make the donut smoother in texture. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the results. I also used guar gum, which is common in gluten-free baking. I tend to avoid it, but for some baked goods, you just need that oomph of structure that the gum gives. Out of all the donuts I made today of course the plain chocolate ones were my favorite 😀

Gluten-free Baked Doughnuts (aka “Fonuts”)

adapted from “Eat My Vegan”

Makes 12 doughnuts or 6 regular sized + 12 mini sized

Ingredients

• 2 and 2/3 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/3 teaspoon guar gum (or xanthan gum)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons milk (non-dairy is fine)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 tablespoons ground yellow flax seed
• ¼ cup melted coconut oil
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Toppings:  chocolate  or vanilla glaze, nuts, sprinkles, chopped chocolate, chopped banana chips, cinnamon sugar, etc.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease two regular sized 6-cavity doughnut pans (or 1 regular donut pan + 1 twelve cavity mini-sized donut pan).
2. Dry ingredients:  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and guar gum.
3. Wet ingredients:  In another bowl, whisk together the milk, applesauce, ground flax seed ,coconut oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Let sit for about five minutes until flax seed becomes gelatinous.
4. Combine the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until no flour pockets remain. Batter will seem thick. Place the batter in a pastry back or plastic bag. Cut a tip off of the plastic bag, if using. Pipe into the donut pans until filled (gluten-free donuts don’t rise as much so it’s okay to fill them to the rim).
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges start to brown. Let cool in pan about 5 minutes before un-molding onto a wire rack. When cool to touch, glaze and sprinkle with your favorite toppings!

For a fun vegan doughnut-baking video , watch:

and don’t forget to watch this hilarious fonut video:

Happy Doughnut Day!

Now I’m off to play some Just Dance, walk the dogs, and do a Tony Horton routine to burn off these delicious treats. 🙂

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